Too Frail For This World
Henry VIII’s son Edward VI was notorious for his tragic, short-lived reign, but England’s doomed boy king has nothing on his close contemporary, King Francis II of France. From his father’s brutal demise to his mother’s cruel machinations, Francis’s life was no gilded existence—and then there was his own horrific end. 
1. He Was A Latecomer
Even Francis’s beginnings were a bad omen. His father, King Henry II of France, had been married to his mother Catherine de' Medici for over a decade without Catherine being pregnant. Although this was likely thanks in part to Henry spending most of his time with his mistress Diane de Poitiers, Queen Catherine was nonetheless under immense pressure to produce an heir when she finally conceived Francis.
When Francis was finally born in 1544, he already faced enormous expectations…ones his father would ratchet up further.
Attributed to Germain Le Mannier, Wikimedia Commons
2. His Father Had Big Plans
Just after his fourth birthday, Francis entered into a violent and dangerous game. His father, hoping to shore up Catholic power in France against burgeoning Protestant factions, allied himself with the also-Catholic Scotland and betrothed Francis to their queen, the five-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots.
It was a brash bit of politicking, and it stirred enemies Francis would keep for life.
Attributed to François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
3. He Stole A King’s Bride
England was none too happy about Scotland gaining any kind of advantage over them with France. After all, Francis’s mirror-image in England, Edward VI, had only just taken the throne, and his father Henry VIII had originally intended that Edward would get Mary’s powerful hand in marriage.
England was even less happy about the next development.
Attributed to William Scrots (active 1537-1553) [1], Wikimedia Commons
4. He Grew Up With His Betrothed
France eventually ratified the marriage agreement, and this triggered another dangerous move. The Scottish sent over their little Queen Mary to grow up in the French court, likely not only to get used to their ways but also to increase the safety of the deal.
When she arrived, Mary brought a surprise with her.
François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
5. His Fiancée Was Striking
Mary was a little older than Francis and already tall for her age; she would grow to be about 5 feet, 11 inches, an extremely tall height for a woman of the day. More than that, she was strikingly pretty, with an oval face, a long elegant neck, chestnut eyes, and auburn hair. Meanwhile, Francis offered a…much different picture.
6. He Paled In Comparison
As Mary and Francis grew up in each other’s company, one thing became clear. Physically, they could not be more different. While Mary was tall, elegant, and articulate, people described Francis as short, fragile, and speaking with a stutter. Even so, their relationship somehow flourished.
7. They Got Along
Neither Francis nor Mary had asked for this betrothal, but, at least according to Francis’s family, they nonetheless got along splendidly. As King Henry II put it, "from the very first day they met, my son and [Mary] got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time". Even so, it was a marriage of unequals, and this quickly became apparent.
Léonard Limousin, Wikimedia Commons
8. He Needed To Be Taken Care Of
Frequently ill and much less worldly than his betrothed, Francis turned more into a younger brother figure for Mary rather than a romantic interest. Though people commented on the “little attentions” Francis paid Mary, she took the lead role in their relationship, getting him out of his shell by urging him to hunt and experience other outdoor activities.
Regardless, they would need a strong allyship to survive the future.
Francis & Mary ⎹ Their Love Story ⎸ Reign ⎹ Eternal Love, Cinema LoveZone
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9. He Got One Step Closer
In April of 1558, when Francis was 14 and Mary 15, the pair entered into a formal betrothal as a prelude to their fast-approaching wedding. Sometimes called “Mary’s handfasting,” it took place in the Louvre and included formal dancing as well as Mary signing a contract declaring her wish to marry.
But this happy day was marred by dark events.
10. The Festivities Were Blood-Stained
After the festivities were done and the various ambassadors began to go home, horrific tidings reached Francis and his family. No fewer than four of the men who had been at the “handfasting” perished before ever returning to Scotland. It didn’t take long for people to believe the worst.
11. There May Have Been A Poison Plot
Although it’s possible that the group of diplomats were victims of the plague, Scottish opponents of the union believed something much darker. Some said the men had been poisoned during the betrothal negotiations as part of a plot.
It was not an auspicious beginning to Francis and Mary’s union—but their wedding did compensate for some of the whispers.
After François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
12. His Wedding Was Luxurious
The French royal family pulled out all the stops for the wedding, which took place on April 24, 1558. Mary wore a crown with the massive “Egg of Naples” ruby in the center, and King Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici gifted their new daughter-in-law with a ruby and diamond pendant later called the “Great H of Scotland”.
Francis got something out of it too: After the wedding, he was officially the King Consort of Scotland. But he was hardly acting like it.
Francis & Mary ⎹ Their Love Story ⎸ Reign ⎹ Eternal Love, Cinema LoveZone
13. He Was Anti-Social
Unlike his bride, Henry was not a sight to be seen on his wedding day. Reportedly limping from one ailment or another, he also appeared puffy-faced and sallow. Thanks in part to his ill health, Francis had learned to hate public events, and one where all the attention was necessarily on him made it all the worse.
He would not leave his wedding day unscathed.
Francis & Mary ⎹ Their Love Story ⎸ Reign ⎹ Eternal Love, Cinema LoveZone
14. His Family Hid Him
As the newlyweds went to a formal banquet after the wedding, Mary took off her crown and let her auburn hair down in preparation for dancing. But instead of dancing with her new husband, it was her father-in-law King Henry II who took her around the room.
Reportedly, the royal family didn’t want the tall, healthy Mary to contrast so keenly with Francis’s stunted, withered form. Still, Francis may have gotten the better end of the deal.
Francis & Mary ⎹ Their Love Story ⎸ Reign ⎹ Eternal Love, Cinema LoveZone
15. He Had A Secret Agreement
In the midst of all the wedding drama, Francis and Mary were holding onto a deep secret. On April 10, just before the betrothal formalities, Mary had discreetly signed an agreement stating that if she passed without issue, Scotland would fall under French rule, meaning Francis would eventually be its true king.
It was a clause that would enrage Scotland if they ever found out, much less if it actually happened. But it never happened: fate was much crueler to Francis.
Reign ǁ The Story of King Francis II, Aurora Riverin
16. He Needed To Produce An Heir
As part of their honeymoon period, Mary and Francis went to the Chateau of Viller-Cotterets, where everyone expected the teenagers to begin getting busy and produce a new generation of French–Scottish royalty. In fact, by the next summer, there were even rumors that Francis had gotten Mary pregnant.
By the time people realized these rumors were false, catastrophe had already blown through.
Attributed to Tavernier de Jonquières, Wikimedia Commons
17. His Father Had A Gruesome Accident
In June of 1559, Francis’s father Henry II was unwinding from all his son’s wedding stress by participating in a jousting tournament. The tournament was supposed to be a celebration of the peace France had just brokered with the Habsburgs of Austria, but it ended in ghastly bloodshed.
While the king was jousting with one of his guardsmen, the man’s lance broke and splintered right into King Henry II’s face. It was a brutal moment that would change Francis’s young life forever.
Workshop of François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
18. He Became King In The Worst Way
Although the doctors didn’t know it at the time, King Henry II was now a ticking time bomb. One of the splinters pierced his eye, causing brain damage. On July 10, Henry perished, in agonizing fashion, from sepsis that had crept into his brain.
It was an utterly horrific way for Francis to become King of France, but then nothing about the coming days was easy.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
19. His Mother Grabbed For Power
Near the moment of his father’s passing, all Francis’s family secrets began coming out of the closet. After years of playing second fiddle to Henry’s mistress Diane de Poitiers, Francis’s mother Catherine now enacted the ultimate power play: She banned Diane from Henry’s deathbed, and then exiled her entirely.
After years of taking a back seat, Catherine de’ Medici was positioning herself as an influence at court, and right on the eve of her son becoming king. But this turned very messy.
Workshop of François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
20. He Couldn’t Do It Alone
Francis was just 15 years old when he became king, and his wife Mary was just 16. Incredibly, French law said that 15 was old enough to be considered an adult, and there was no necessity for Francis to have a regent to help him rule. Luckily, Francis was wise enough to know he needed one anyway.
Unluckily…he may have made the wrong choice.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
21. He Asked For Help
Henry chose his wife Mary's uncles from the House of Guise—Francis, Duke of Guise, and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine—for his advisors. To be fair, they were capable candidates, and had an immense amount of influence already in the French court. But in choosing his wife’s side of things, Francis had ignored one vital member of his family.
François Clouet and workshop, Wikimedia Commons
22. He Snubbed His Mother
Mary’s uncles immediately set about organizing the new King Francis’s affairs—but there was an elephant in the room. More often than not, in the case of one king dying unexpectedly and his heir taking over, that heir’s mother acted as regent for him. In other words: Francis had apparently skipped right over Catherine de’ Medici.
But the story is more complicated than that.
Unidentified painter / Formerly attributed to François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
23. She Dismissed Him
According to one report, the teenaged Francis had gone right to his mother after becoming king. In fact, he’d told his ministers on that very first day to go ask Catherine for orders. However, too much in mourning for her late husband to take on the responsibility, Catherine herself then pointed the ministers in the direction of Mary’s uncles.
If this was true, Catherine quickly—and viciously—changed her mind.
Reign || The Best of Catherine de’ Medici || Season 1, Catherine de’ Medici
24. His Mother Scorned His Wife
Up until this point, Francis’s wife Mary had been well liked by practically everyone in the French court. But after Catherine was shunted away from power and Mary replaced her as Queen of France, the de’ Medici matriarch turned into quite the mean girl. Suddenly, she seemed jealous of Mary, and gave her daughter-in-law the cold shoulder, possibly as a way to compensate for her lack of power in Francis’s court.
Francis did what he could to intervene.
Reign || The Best of Catherine de’ Medici || Season 1, Catherine de’ Medici
25. He Tried To Appease His Mother
In a seeming bid to placate his mother, Francis soon granted Catherine de’ Medici “the most opulent settlement that had ever been made to a queen dowager”. To seal the deal, he also began every royal letter with the proviso, “This being the good pleasure of the Queen, my lady-mother”.
Evidently, Mary, Queen of Scots was no rival to Catherine de’ Medici when it came to Francis’s heart. Not that Francis could put up much of a fight for his wife.
Reign || The Best of Catherine de’ Medici || Season 1, Catherine de’ Medici
26. He Was Too Sick To Be King
Francis had always been something of a fragile youth, and the pressures of the crown only seemed to intensify his frailty; he frequently suffered from eczema, dizzy spells, and a runny nose. In fact, many believed that one of the reasons he was so keen to have a regent at all, despite being of age, was because he understood he didn’t have the physical fortitude to run the country on his own.
At his coronation, this became all too clear.
Reign || The Best of Catherine de’ Medici || Season 1, Catherine de’ Medici
27. His Coronation Was Humiliating
After all this inner turmoil, Francis was officially crowned King of France on September 21, 1559. True to the current power dynamics, Mary’s uncle Charles headed up the ceremony, but the rite contained an embarrassing detail. The crown was far too heavy for the sickly king, and multiple nobles had to hold it on his head throughout the ceremony.
It would become a metaphor for the rest of his short, bitter reign.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
28. He Lashed Out
Around this time, Francis began to exhibit disturbing behavior. Frustrated by how ill he was, he began to throw fits at the smallest of provocations. Furthermore, when he wasn’t angry he was overcompensating, and began dressing in ostentatious clothes that announced his importance even when his physical stature couldn’t.
Then again, there were wolves at his door.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
29. His Kingdom Was In Tatters
In truth, King Francis II had inherited a kingdom as sick as himself. In 1559, France was on the edge of bankruptcy, and lenders, almost entirely out of hope to get their money back, weren’t likely to post Francis any future funding.
If that was all, though, maybe the young king could have navigated it. Instead, there were far greater problems.
Theodor Josef Hubert Hoffbauer, Wikimedia Commons
30. His Country Revolted
As if empty royal coffers weren’t enough for a 15-year-old to work through, France’s Protestant versus Catholic battle was also heating up. It now turned vicious and bloody. Two months after Francis’s coronation, in response to the trial of Protestant martyr/heretic (depending on who you asked) Anne de Bourg, the latent unrest erupted into violence across Paris.
It quickly spiraled out of control.
Jean Perrissin, Wikimedia Commons
31. They Conspired Against Him
With a chronically sick teenager on the throne and two Catholic nobles potentially loyal to the Scottish crown acting in his stead, many in France weren’t just unhappy with their royal family—they also understood just how vulnerable they were.
In no time at all, a faction of Protestants, helped by malcontent military men, began plotting a conspiracy to unseat the Catholic uncles from the House of Guise and exert control over Francis themselves. It backfired—but it backfired on almost everyone.
Mary learns that Francis is dying - *Reign*, Veronique Laurent
32. He Crushed The Rebels
The rebel faction took Louis de Bourbon, the 1st Prince of Conde, as their leader and began gathering strength. Francis’s regents reacted with terrifying speed. After learning about the conspiracy in advance, the brothers Guise quickly crushed the rebellion and maintained their grip on Francis’s ear and throne, even as Conde escaped.
But this all had a disastrous ripple effect.
anonymous / Unidentified painter, Wikimedia Commons
33. He Couldn’t Control Them
Although this central conspiracy had failed to unseat Francis’s Catholic advisors, it nonetheless spurred a spate of unrest in the provinces of France. Soon, all over the kingdom, guerrilla armies and Protestant citizens began invading churches and taking them for their own—at some point, even with the help of the escaped Prince of Conde.
It was here that, at long last, Francis showed his mettle.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
34. He Pushed His Might
Francis was sickly, but he was apparently no fool—and anyway, it didn’t take a genius to see that his kingdom was falling into shambles. Infuriated by these rebellions, the teenaged king showed a dark side. He unleashed a torrent of troops across the country, quelling rebellion wherever there was even a whisper of it.
Then he got a personal revenge.
Paul Lehugeur, Wikimedia Commons
35. He Imprisoned His Rival
After months of trying to catch him, Francis and his allies finally nabbed the Prince of Conde, overwhelming him with men and detaining him. Although the noble rebel continually filibustered the proceedings, Francis and the Guise brothers were at last able to sentence him to imprisonment, probably at the Chateau de Loches.
It seemed Francis had finally found a taste for blood. He also found a taste for controversy.
Tortorel, Jacques (avant 1550 - après 1575), graveur, Wikimedia Commons
36. His Wife Was A Magnet For Trouble
Just after Francis’s wedding, England’s own Catholic Queen Mary I passed, and her Protestant sister Elizabeth took over. This was an opening for Francis and his wife. Like many other places in Europe, some in England wanted another Catholic queen, and now looked to Francis’s wife Mary, Queen of Scots to be on their throne, since she had a claim through her grandmother Margaret Tudor.
Instead of backing away from this drama, Francis and Mary jumped right in.
Unidentified painter, Wikimedia Commons
37. They Flaunted Their Power
After their marriage, Francis and Mary naturally took new heraldry to honor their union. In so doing, they made a bold choice: They decided to nestle the English coat of arms inside their heraldry, calling out Mary’s—and thus Francis’s—claims to the English throne.
When Queen Elizabeth got wind of this, she acted immediately.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
38. They Made An Enemy Of Queen Elizabeth
English diplomats at the French court couldn’t fail to notice this bravado, and they turned around and reported the new heraldry to Queen Elizabeth. Irritated at the young upstarts and their apparent threat, Elizabeth had the English College of Arms officially declare that the heraldry was invalid. Yet still, this wasn’t enough for her.
39. She Got Her Revenge
Queen Elizabeth I forgot very little, and years later she decided to show Francis and his wife her real might. In January 1560, Elizabeth sent a fleet to Edinburgh’s port of Leith, where French troops—still friendly with Scotland—had set up a military base. She had her ships blockade the port, then brought in thousands more men to siege the city.
For Francis, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Unknown (1560), Wikimedia Commons
40. His People Were Driven Out
France gave Francis enough of a headache, but Scotland at this time was its own kettle of fish, even without Queen Elizabeth. In 1559, many Scots decided they’d had quite enough of the French in their land, and forced them out of Edinburgh. Fearing for her own safety, Francis’s mother-in-law Marie of Guise also fled for the Scottish countryside, then begged France for help.
Francis and Mary sent troops across and eventually reinstated their grip on Scotland…but they had little time to bask in the victory.
Attributed to Corneille de Lyon, Wikimedia Commons
41. He Fell Ill
In mid-November of 1560, Francis came back from a hunting trip in Orleans complaining of dizziness, which was not unusual for him, and a kind of buzzing in his ear, which was less usual. Even so, his family members were all inured to his bouts of ill-health, and they likely thought it would pass as the others had. They were very, very wrong.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
42. He Collapsed In Church
The next Sunday, Francis experienced harrowing symptoms. He collapsed in the middle of attending Church, whereupon attendants discovered a swollen spot “the size of a large nut” behind his ear. It was an abscess, and it was now causing brutal stabbing pains in his head.
The doctors lanced it, forcing pus to flood Francis’s mouth and nostrils but immediately relieving some of the pain. Only, no one should have held their breath.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
43. They Tried To Save Him
Later in the month, it became clear that Francis was nowhere near out of the woods. He now began suffering from seizures, and couldn’t speak or move. With his wife and mother alternately nursing and praying for him, doctors busied themselves with desperate attempts at a cure, including rhubarb enemas and discussing trepanning—that is, drilling a hole in his head.
It was all too late, anyway.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
44. He Perished In Agony
After a brief period where they thought the king was turning a corner, the abscess erupted once more, and Francis became utterly delirious before turning completely inert. On December 5th, 1560, after weeks of agony and horror that mirrored his father’s own end, Francis perished just a handful of weeks shy of his 17th birthday.
His tragic legacy wasn’t over yet.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
45. His Mother Used The Situation
Even as he lay dying, Francis’s own mother was angling for his power. Fed up of taking a backseat to the throne behind the brothers Guise, she orchestrated an agreement with the court that guaranteed she would become regent when Francis’s younger brother, the future Charles IX, took the throne.
So yes, in the midst of Francis’s final ragged breaths, his mother was thinking about herself. It wasn’t the only heartbreak in the years to follow.
After François Clouet, Wikimedia Commons
46. His Legacy Worsened
The religious turmoil between Catholics and Protestants that ignited during Francis’s reign grew into a raging fire after his demise. In 1572, with his brother Charles IX still serving as king and his mother Catherine still at the helm, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre saw the deaths of thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Protestants, all under the direction of the French royal family.
47. His Marriage Was Missing Something
Although they were young, people at the time questioned why Francis and Mary hadn’t produced a single sign that they had consummated their union in the year and a half they were married. Indeed, historians still wonder if the pair ever slept together, even as Mary wrote to her mother after the wedding night: “All I can tell you is that I account myself one of the happiest women in the world”.
The answer to that question might have been ruinous for Francis.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
48. His Physical Issues May Have Extended To The Bedroom
We’ll never know for sure what Francis might have become if he had survived his poor constitution, but his adult reign could have been a nightmare for the royal succession. More specifically, he may have been keeping a dire abnormality under wraps. There is evidence that his own family thought he was impotent, and some historians additionally believe his “parts” hadn’t descended. But that’s not all.
Reign ♕ Francis and Mary's Story, Fireflies II
49. It May Have Been Hereditary
It’s common historical knowledge that Francis’s mother Catherine de’ Medici struggled to have him for a decade—but after she did conceive him, getting pregnant afterward became easy. As a result, and giving credence to Francis’s own possible issues, some historians believe that Catherine and her husband may have had some abnormalities “down there” as well, which they needed to figure out and overcome before they could conceive children.
50. His Short Life Had Deep Pain
The reign of King Francis II was all too brief, and all too brutal. Despite marrying one of the most powerful queens in Europe, he also witnessed the gruesome demise of his father, navigated vicious religious turmoil, and ultimately succumbed to a monstrous ailment.
A boy king he might have been, but his life was far from innocent.
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